The president’s firing of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson managed to
add insult to the year of injury that has been visited on the State
Department and U.S. foreign policy.

The firing sows doubt among our
allies and tempts those working against the values we seek. Congress
needs to reassert its constitutional responsibilities to shape how the
U.S. engages with the world, decide whether our nation goes to war, and
review the qualifications of nominees the president proposes to lead our
nation at the State Department and the CIA.

A year of understaffing and underfunding the State Department is driving
America’s foreign policy into crisis. Now, more than a year into the
Trump administration, the State Department lacks Senate-confirmed
appointees for secretary, five out of six undersecretaries, six out of
seven regional assistant secretaries, and numerous key ambassadors.

As Mike Pompeo seeks the nomination as the nation’s top diplomat, we
urge him to clearly define his strategy for working closely with
America’s friends around the world to protect hard-won diplomatic
victories such as the Iran nuclear agreement and the president’s bold
decision to engage North Korea directly. We at FCNL are particularly
concerned about Mike Pompeo’s past statements calling for the Iran
nuclear agreement to be ripped up and calling for regime change in North
Korea.

Gina Haspel, President Trump’s nominee to lead the CIA, was the
clandestine officer who oversaw the waterboarding
torture
of two terrorism suspects and later destroyed evidence of those abuses.
How can we say “never again” to torture while asking one of the
perpetrators of these abuses to lead the agency?

Congress must provide a steady hand in directing our country’s foreign
policy and its diplomatic engagement. Congress must fully fund diplomacy
and development while focusing its attention on filling the vacancies
that remain.

In the weeks and months ahead, FCNL calls on Congress to focus on
these key questions:

How can additional resources best enhance key diplomatic initiatives
to secure America’s interests and values?

Who will fill America’s key diplomatic positions, and how quickly
will they be in place?

How will the United States support and work with our allies to build
on and advance, rather than set back and undermine, our shared
nonproliferation and security goals for Iran and North Korea?

How would Secretary of State nominee Pompeo negotiate in good faith
with North Korea or Iran, given his past statements on negotiations
with these countries?

How can CIA Director nominee Haspel ensure the U.S. public and the
world that waterboarding and other torture never happens again,
given her role in these violations of international law in the past?

Jim Cason is responsible for directing the full range of FCNL’s strategic advocacy work. In this capacity, he works with program staff to develop long term change strategies that accomplish our particular legislative goals. He also leads the lobbying of the foreign policy team.